Keeney, who has lived in Athens for more than 10 years, won the chance last week to stomp the accelerator of the company's flagship muscle car, feel the inertia of hairpin turns and inhale the smoke of his own burned rubber - even if he couldn't see the landscape whiz by.

Keeney is blind.

"They told me the smoke was so thick, they could barely see the car," Keeney said.

NASCAR driver Tommy Kendall rode shotgun while Keeney approached 90 mph on a desolate test road in Phoenix, a chance he won with an essay in Ford's promotional sweepstakes for the new model.

Keeney, a New York native, was blinded in 1990 when a piece of farming equipment came apart and struck him in the head. After a few years to recover and complete a master's degree, he came to Athens to work on his doctorate.

Today, Keeney chairs the local Commission on the Disabled and works as an employment advocate, helping disabled people find jobs.

In the essay contest, Ford asked Mustang lovers to tell their Mustang dream story in 250 words or less for a chance to take the car for a spin.

Keeney's essay, "Impossible Possibility," described how he'd fumble in his pocket for car keys, press a button and wait to hear the "beep" that would help him find the car. At the car's side, he'd fold up his cane, slump down into a leather seat and peel away like other drivers do every day.

Keeney never thought he'd win, but a Ford representative called weeks later to set up an all-expenses-paid trip to Phoenix, where he would get to drive the car.

"I thought it was a joke," Keeney said. "I figured these folks at Ford would get a big laugh."

But Ford's marketing department thought his story stood out, and saw that there were other ways customers could enjoy a Mustang.

"That just really caught our attention. There was absolutely no doubt that this was one of those submissions we wanted to follow up with," said Patricia Piedrahita, who works on the Mustang campaign for the Ford Motor Co. "The fact that he could provide us a different point of view was part of what made him so interesting. It sort of forced us to look at our own vehicle from a different point of view."

Keeney also visited the Arizona Center for the Blind, where he had volunteered and helped create the sport of blind archery years earlier, and took 10 blind people to the testing facility to drive the car, too.

"It's hard to explain how important that event was out there for us, to play with a car and do a little hot-rodding," he said.

While Ford will use Keeney's experience and story to sell the car, the visit also gave him the chance to teach auto manufacturers about the 1 million legally blind Americans who don't have reliable transportation, Keeney said.

"I'm looking at it as a great marketing tool for the whole system," he said. "Being that (transportation) is one of our largest barriers, I'm always looking for positive answers to this problem. Perhaps we'll get the auto industry to consider (making a car for the blind) with higher priority, because there are a lot of us who would benefit from improved technology in the auto industry."